Hurricane Maria was described as 'potentially catastrophic' before it made landfall in Dominica

"Urgent helicopter services are needed to take food, water and tarpaulins to outer districts for shelter.”

Speaking about the lives lost, he added: "It's difficult to determine the level of fatalities but so far seven are confirmed, as a direct result of the hurricane.

"That figure, the Prime Minister fears, will rise as he wades his way into the rural communities today.

"The urgent needs now are roofing materials for shelters, bedding supplies for hundreds stranded in or outside what's left of their homes and food and water drops for residents of outlying districts inaccessible at the moment.

"The country is in a daze - no electricity, no running water -as a result of uprooted pipes in most communities and definitely no landline or cellphone services on island, and that will be for quite a while.

"In summary, the island has been devastated. The housing stock significantly damaged or destroyed. "

A clearer picture was expected later after a Barbados coastguard boat arrived with aid and another is due to sail there this afternoon.

An assessment team from the Department for International Development along with crack Royal Marine Commandos is trying to get to Dominica, a former British colony.

The megastorm made landfall in Puerto Rico on Wednesday after killing at least seven in Dominica

Storm chaser Mike Theiss wrote on Twitter from Puerto Rico: "The wind sounds like a woman screaming at the top of her lungs !"

Puerto Rico is being pummelled by the superstorm today as officials warned it would decimate the country's crumbling infrastructure and force the government to rebuild dozens of communities.

Maria made landfall in the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa as a Category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph and it was expected to punish the island with life-threatening winds for 12 to 24 hours, forecasters said.

"This is going to be an extremely violent phenomenon," Gov. Ricardo Rossello said. "We have not experienced an event of this magnitude in our modern history."

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